


Feathers

by SilverNight104



Series: Miraculous Reveals [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Episode: s01 Monsieur Pigeon | Mr Pigeon, F/M, Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 11:57:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8284996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverNight104/pseuds/SilverNight104
Summary: In Mr Pigeon, Ladybug was witness to Chat Noir's allergies to feathers. So was Marinette to Adrien's allergies after being judged winner of the design competition. What if Marinette actually connected the dots?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug. All rights belong to Thomas Astruc and his team.
> 
> A/N: I'm not all that hyped for season 2, seeing as I will always love the original team of Ladybug and Chat Noir. So. Around November, I'm going to be working on a Miraculous cross-over and reveals, in order to release them before season 2 comes.
> 
> Another thing. Always, always, thank blackbile for her work on this. She's my awesome beta and a total goddess. (If you're reading this; love you!)

"Is this a joke?" Mr Agreste asked, staring closely at the two identical hats.

Chloe gasped dramatically, stamping her foot. "No fair!"

She crossed her arms, wailing: "Marinette copied my design! It's scandalous! How could you do that!"

If that weren't enough, she started crying into the podium dramatically.

Mr Agreste raised an eyebrow at her dramatic behaviour.

"I apologise for the situation, Mr Agreste, but I can prove that this hat is _my_ original design," Marinette said smugly, her arms crossed as everyone's attention was drawn to her instead of the wailing Bourgeois heir.

Instantly, Nathalie turned the tablet away from the wailing Chloe to face Marinette.

"Go ahead," Mr Agreste said solemnly to Chloe and Sabrina's gasps.

"Uhm," Marinette began as she took the hat off its podium. "Everything on my derby hat is hand-made, from the embroidery to the weaving of the band to the stitching of the brim."

Chloe scowled as she realised that Marinette was just about to unravel her carefully laid plan.

"It was all done by myself," Marinette continued. "And last, there's a special design element that only the true designer knows about."

She turned the hat upside down, tilting it to expose the gold embroidery that spelled out her name in elegant gold cursive. "I signed mine."

Chloe gasped in shock as her hands flew to cover her mouth, accidentally knocking over her podium. Instantly, everyone turned at the sound of the crash as the hat too fell upside down, exposing the gold embroidery.

Chloe ran off, sobbing once more as she departed the school grounds. "Daddy!" she wailed.

Nathalie turned the tablet around to face Marinette once more, Mr Agreste looking impressed.

"Very exquisite creation," Mr Agreste said approvingly as Marinette blushed, staring at the hat in her hands. "You definitely have the labouring hands of a hatmaker, Miss…?"

"Marinette," Adrien interjected, placing his hand on Marinette's shoulder as he gestured at the aspiring designer.

"Congratulations on your demonstration, Miss Marinette," Mr Agreste continued. "You're the winner."

Instantly, Marinette and Alya looked to each other, exchanging looks of glee.

"Thank you, _thank you_!" Marinette gasped in joy, bowing, her face absolutely ecstatic.

"Adrien will wear your derby on our next advertising campaign," Mr Agreste continued.

Adrien grasped Marinette's hands, the girl gasping and blushing at the contact.

"Awesome job, Marinette," Adrien praised, his emerald eyes meeting sapphire. Instantly the blush grew tenfold and Marinette's smile grew larger as she met his eyes.

Taking the derby hat from Marinette's suddenly warm hands, Adrien started to put it on his head… only to stop when he felt a ticklish sensation up his nose.

"Ahh, ahh, ah, ah, ah, choo!" he sneezed, startling Marinette and Alya at its suddenness.

He sniffled, eyes lidded as he wiped his nose. Marinette blinked in astonishment, sapphire eyes wide. Then Adrien's eyes rested on the shocked looks on the designer and reporter's faces, and he paused.

"Uh, sorry!" he said, looking apologetic at the two. "I'm allergic to feathers."

As if to prove his point, he sneezed again.

Marinette gasped in realisation. "Oh!" she said softly, before flinching as he sneezed again. Then a smile graced her face. "Gesundheit!" she called, waving at him.

"Ah, ah choo!" Adrien sneezed again, before sniffling and waving to her. "Thanks," he said weakly before walking off, presumably to somewhere where he could get some tissues.

Behind him, Marinette exchanged another excited look with Alya, before jumping in the air. "Woohoo!" she cheered as the two laughed in joy.

Then a thought occurred to her, and called a quick "Sorry! Gotta go!" to Alya before chasing after Adrien. "Adrien, wait!"

The boy paused, just about to step foot into the limo, derby hat in hand, and turned to her. "Ah choo!" he sneezed once more, before turning to Marinette.

"What is it, Marinette?" he asked, sniffling.

"Uhh, the derby hat. We could, I mean, I could, not to say you can't, but obviously you're the model and all, but not saying you're not because you're perfect…"

"Miss Marinette," Mr Agreste interjected sharply from the screen inside of the limo. "Can you get to the point? We're on a tight schedule."

"Yes!" Marinette snapped back, and once more confident and all business. "The feather in the derby hat. I could switch it for something else, since you're allergic to it. I could use a flower, or maybe a fake feather, or some other ornament for derby hats."

Mr Agreste raised an eyebrow, before looking at the derby hat in Adrien's hats. "Impressive, Miss Marinette. Most designers wouldn't alter their completed and submitted designs, particularly switching out the centerpiece of the design - in your case, the pigeon feather. Very well. Nathalie, clear Adrien's schedule for the rest of the day. Adrien, go help Miss Marinette pick out a new ornament for the hat, since you are the model and we should make sure that you aren't allergic to the new ornament, or Miss Marinette's efforts will be wasted."

Adrien gaped in shock for a moment, before grinning. "Yes, father," he said, before closing the limo door. Instantly the car zoomed off, and he sneezed again.

"So, where to first?" he asked.

Marinette pondered it for a moment, a comment from Chat Noir suddenly popping in her head about feathers. It was weird, that both of the blonde-haired, green-eyed boys she knew were allergic to feathers…

"Achoo!" Adrien sneezed again. "Sorry," he said, sniffling.

"Well, you're not allergic to flowers, are you?"

"Shouldn't be." Adrien said cautiously.

"Great! Then first stop is my house to drop off the hat so you don't sneeze all the time, then we'll go to the florist's to see the flowers!"

* * *

"Oh, hello Adrien!" Mrs Cheng said cheerily from the counter of the bakery. "It's good to see you again!"

"H-hello, Mrs- achoo!"

"Well now Adrien," Mrs Cheng said cheekily. "I doubt my ancestors had the name achoo."

"No, no!" Adrien said frantically. "Please accept my sincere apologies."

"Oh, relax Adrien." Mr Dupain said, coming out from the kitchen. "She's just teasing you."

"Oh," Adrien sighed in relief. "Hello, Mr Dupain, Mrs Cheng."

"Now, Adrien, you can call us Tom and Sabine, all of Marinette's friends do."

Adrien froze. "A friend?"

Marinette smiled at him. "Yeah, you're a friend of mine!"

Tom grinned. "A _really good_ friend, actually."

"Papa!" Marinette exclaimed, before making to drag Adrien upstairs with her. Halfway up the steps, though, she suddenly remembered all of the pictures that were still up on the wall.

"Oh no!"

"What is it, Marinette?" the three chorused in unison.

"Uhh, nothing. Adrien, why don't you stay down here? I'll just put the hat up. It'll only take a minute, heh."

Adrien had barely nodded his consent before Marinette ran upstairs like a whirlwind. He shrugged, before he walked down the steps when he heard crashing upstairs. He made to go back up, but Mr and Mrs - ahem - Tom and Sabine stopped him.

"No need, Adrien. This always happens all the time."

"Really?" He asked dubiously.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it. Especially in the mornings when she's in a rush to go to school."

"Papa!" Marinette exclaimed.

"But Marinette, I'm only telling him the truth!"

Adrien laughed, stopping the incoming banter between the two as they heard him. He stopped for a moment, and smiled nervously.

"Are you staying for dinner, Adrien?" Sabine asked.

"Then he can stay forever!" Tom exclaimed.

"Papa! Mama!" Marinette screamed.

Seeing his cheeky grin, she immediately grabbed hold of his arm and began to drag him out of the bakery door. "Bye Papa! Bye Mama! I'll see you later!"

"... I still ship them."

"Me too."

* * *

"What flower is that one?"

Marinette blushed. "It's called a black cat petunia."

"Black cat?"

"Yeah, it's kind of a tribute to Chat Noir. After he saved me from the Evillustrator and all."

Adrien smiled to himself strangely, before looking closer at the flower. ' _An even more fitting tribute than you think_.'

He took out his wallet. "How much is it?" he asked the florist.

"What- no Adrien, you can't pay for me!" Marinette shrieked, still holding the flower.

Adrien handed the money to the florist. "Too late," he said, smirking.

Marinette glared at him, before she jolted, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. "Should we- Ahh, I don't mean in that way, but oh my god, it's we anyway - go?"

Adrien stared at her, shocked, for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, I want to see how you're replacing the feather with a flower."

"Huh? Haven't you seen the designers do it? I mean, some of them might replace things like buttons and such, right?"

"I haven't seen it unless I'm the one wearing the clothes. Models don't really see the clothes unless it's the final product. Even then, it's mostly fixing seams."

"Oh," Marinette murmured, rolling the flower in her hand, before her phone beeped. "It's 4 already. We should get going."

Then Adrien's phone rang, and he frowned at seeing the caller ID. "Sorry, I've got to take this."

He picked up. "Hello, Nathalie?"

Marinette sighed at that. It looked like her time with him was going to be cut short once more.

Adrien hung up. "I'm really sorry about this Marinette, I really wanted to watch you work."

"It's okay! Tomorrow's a weekend, so you can come over and watch me work then!"

His eyes widened. "Really?"

Marinette nodded firmly. "Yeah!"

He smiled - a real smile, not the smaller ones he had at school - and grasped her hand. "Thanks, Marinette."

* * *

"Say, Chat Noir, are you really allergic to feathers?"

"Yeah," the response came. "Why, My Lady, concerned for this poor alley cat?"

"As if! It's just that my friend, he's also allergic to feathers."

"It's a common allergy, I suppose."

"Well, it was weird how I found out, I suppose. I didn't even know until today!"

He laughed. "Tell me about it! Two of my friends just found out, and one of them was really nice about it."

"Oh?" Ladybug raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, see, she designed a hat for me, but she used a feather in the design. I kept on sneezing, but I had to wear it, so she generously offered to change it for me - and she dedicated it to me, even! Well, superhero me, but she doesn't know that."

Ladybug froze. "What?" she said weakly.

"Yeah, it was really nice of her, right?"

Marinette's mind was racing a thousand miles an hour. Adrien was blond. So was Chat Noir. They were both allergic to feathers. Chat Noir's friend had designed a hat for him, and she used a feather in it. Marinette designed a derby hat for Adrien using a pigeon feather. Chat Noir's friend replaced the feather. Adrien and Marinette had gone searching for a flower to replace the feather that afternoon. His friend dedicated it to Chat Noir. Marinette had told Adrien the petunia was a tribute to him.

"-Lady! My Lady!"

"Adrien?" she said cautiously.

It was Chat's turn to freeze. "What did you say?"

"Adrien. You're Adrien. Oh my god, why didn't I see it before! Oh my god, I've been so blind!"

Instantly Chat slapped a clawed hand over her mouth. "Quiet! Do you want the whole of Paris to know?"

She stopped then, but her eyes met his. "So, you're really…"

"You can't tell anyone!" he whisper-shouted fiercely, before his expression turned melancholic. "Being Chat Noir is my freedom. If my father knew, he'd trap me in that mansion again. Alone."

Ladybug touched his cheek. "Oh, Chat."

"Do you understand now? No one can know."

She nodded. "No one else, kitty."

They sat in silence there for a moment, before he spoke up again. "How'd you know that I was Adrien?"

"Well," she said slowly. "First of all, you're both blonde. Then, you mentioned being allergic to feathers."

"Those two are common enough," Chat said. "It could have been a lot of people."

"I know. What actually confirmed it for me was your friend. The one who replaced the feather for you."

"How could that have clued you off?"

"Tell me, Chat," Ladybug spoke, excitement bubbling inside of her. She knew her most closely guarded secret was about to be given away, but to this person, she would entrust all of her close secrets to.

"Did she happen to replace that pigeon feather with a black cat petunia?"

"What- how did you know?!"

"Look at me, Chat, _really_ look at me."

For the second time that day, emerald eyes met sapphire. Then Chat Noir let out a soft gasp as he realized he recognised the confidence in those eyes. While he always saw them on Ladybug, it was also in someone else's eyes - someone who had bested Chloe at her own game and impressed his father earlier that day.

"Marinette?" he breathed.

Ladybug exhaled. "Yeah."

Then he took a deep breath. "Can I… kiss you now?"

Ladybug gasped softly.

"It's something I swore to myself during the first Akuma attack. I told myself whoever it was beneath the mask, I'd love the girl. It's not just because you're Ladybug, it's also because you're Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the girl who's class representative, the one who beat Chloe down and also impressed my father."

"Chat," she breathed, before her eyes glowed with confidence again. "I've love you too. Since that day in the rain. When you gave me your umbrella. And also when you're Chat, the one who saved me from the Evillustrator, and the one who protected me from Timebreaker."

"Ladybug…"

"Chat…"

"I love you."

They both closed their eyes, and their lips met.

Then their lips parted, and now their eyes met, brilliant emerald meeting glittering sapphire.

No words were needed then. Their eyes met and thousands of words passed between them.

Then they smiled.

They knew everything was right in the world.


End file.
